Friday, August 24, 2012

Happy Friday....and am I ever happy that it is in fact FRIDAY! I am sooo tired this week and grateful that we do not have a wedding this weekend! The Hubby let's me sleep in on those weekends so I am looking forward to that!

This week I made two recipes that I found on Pinterest (of course while doing my job researching for client's weddings). I often see recipes that I want to try and even created a "food ideas" board....and then never make them! So I decided this week I would change all of that! I made Pad Thai and a Breakfast/Fruit/Chocolate casserole for Mason's first day of Preschool. I will post a link to the recipes...which are pretty detailed and give you all of the step-by-steps with pics...so no need to rehash those...I will just let you know how I changed it up and my thoughts on a few of the steps!

Pad Thai:

First of all...a yummier meal has never been made! I mean that literally....first of all I love Thai food, but it can be quite pricey when eating out...so I was super (inner Dana) excited to find a recipe that was touted as "the closest thing I have had since leaving Thailand." I looked at the ingredients and thought....that seemed doable! All of the ingredients were readily available at my local, not fancy, Grocery store!

I will warn you that there is a little bit of prep involved and at some points in the recipe you have to concentrate....so if you have a babysitter (hubby or Dora will do) during the preparation that would be helpful!

The Rice noodles...I actually soaked these longer than the package said to..I got distracted with putting kids to bed...it turned out just fine! So don't worry about time limits with these...you won't ruin them!

I made my sauce and did all my chopping so it was ready when I needed it!

The hubby insisted on adding chicken so I cooked it in a little oil and soy sauce and chopped it up real fine. Then I added it to the noodles at the same time I added the eggs.

The finished product....We even ate it with chopsticks! SOooooo Good!

Breakfast Casserole:
I found this recipe recently and thought it sounded so yummy! It was also made with things I normally have around the house...so no special shopping needed! I thought that the kiddos would love it and we did have that 'First day of School' coming up.....Perfect!

I'm not gonna lie...I was a little remiss on the picture taking .(you will see why in a minute) The only thing I really changed from the recipe is the type of Oats (mine were the instant - full of gluten type), I added blueberries to the bottom and strawberries on top, and used pecans instead of walnuts. I also added a dash of nutmeg as I thought it went well with the cinnamon and vanilla. It turned out really good...I was expecting a harder/granola bar consistency and it was a bit more cake like...but yummy still!

This is the time (AM) that I started this little project! I know, I know....I have already been nominated as mother of the year...but you can add me to the ballots again!

My 'extra' ingredient!

The last picture I took before baking....didn't even take a finished pic!

This recipe did take a little longer than advertised....I wasn't finished baking until 5:55....so It was about an hour 15 to get it all ready....That is about 25 minutes more than the stated time...which can be crucial if you are trying to put this together in the morning!